How to stay inside the closet - or not
by unbroken.dreams
Summary: Sets around CoA. With his parents being at Idris, Alec let Magnus spend a night in the Insitute. But when his parents come home early, things get a bit awkward.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so originally this started out to be a Oneshot. The idea hit me out of nowhere and I couldn't let it pass. Unfortunately I got to a point which was SO perfect for a cliffhanger and as those among you, who already know me, know: I can NEVER resist a good cliffhanger xD

So this will probably be a Twoshot. Maybe a Threeshot? I don't know at this point, really. It's just something cute and fun to pass time, I don't have xD

It sets sometime around City of Ashes. Hope you enjoy!

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**HOW TO STAY INSIDE THE CLOSET... OR NOT.**

"Alec?" A knock on the door. "Are you home?"

As if someone had just given him an electric shock, Alec sat up in the bed. His hair was messed up and his eyes wide open. Interesting, Magnus thought, since just a second ago he had pretended to still be asleep, letting Magnus gently stroke his head as it rested on his chest.

"Mom was supposed to be in Idris at least until tomorrow. By the Angel, what is she doing here?!" Alec seemed to be whispering more to himself than to anyone else. However, not being talked to has never kept Magnus from engaging into a conversation.

He sat up as well as he said: "She is in the hallway, Alexander. It's not like she's standing in front of the bed. Not that she would _still_ be standing, of course, given the fact that she doesn't know you're gay yet, catching you in a bed with a man might cause her to faint."

Alec shushed him and jumped out of the bed, found his pants and out them on as soon as he could.

"Uh, Alexander-" Magnus started but was quickly cut off by Alec.

"Will you _please_ just be silent!" he whispered and Magnus threw his hands in die air and let himself fall back in the bed.

Alec tried to adjust his hair and opened the door, wide enough for his mom to see him but not for her to see his bed. Or more likely the naked warlock lying in it. "Mom, hey... and Izzy." Ah, so his mother wasn't alone. "What are you doing here?"

"We live here." Isabelle replied and Magnus could see that Alec shot her an annoyed look. "And as for me, I've been here aaaall night long. Couldn't sleep. There was all this _noise_ keeping me up. It was so weird, I mean have you heard it?"

Magnus smirked. She was such a teaser. Unfortunately he knew that Alec was not good at handling being teased about Magnus, especially with someone around, who didn't know about his sexual preferences. Meaning: The entire population of the earth. He wasn't very talented in keeping his nervousness to himself either, which was just another little thing he loved about the Shadowhunter.

As Alec replied he did sound very uncomfortable. "Uh, no. I was asleep."

"Sure you were." Isabelle replied. Magnus heard she was smiling and shook his head. "Anyway, as you can see, mom and dad are home early. I was just about to tell you but she caught up with me."

"Max got sick and he wanted to come home. Your father was finished with his business in Idris anyway so we all came back sooner than planned." his mother explained. "Have you eaten breakfast, yet?"

"Uhm no. No, I just got up."

"Great. Than I will set a plate for you, too. Get dressed and come downstairs and... Alexander... are you wearing you pants backwards?"

Alec looked down and started get really panicked. "Uuh... yes. I am. I guess it was a bit late last night, I'm still tired."

"What have you been doing?"

"Yes, Alec", Isabelle said. "What_ have_ you been doing?"

"I was training. With Jace. Physical exercise helps him get his mind off of things."

"Physical exercise, huh?" Isabelle asked but was reproached by her mother this time.

"Isabelle, stop grilling your brother. If he's too tired to put his pants on the right way, he's too tired to answer questions. Still, I'd like for you to come down to breakfast. Take a shower first, it'll wake you up."

Alec nodded. "Yes, I will."

Magnus heard his mother walking away. As soon as the footsteps were gone Alec asked his sister: "What's gotten into you?!"

"Me?" Isabelle asked. "I was just about to ask you the same thing." She then pushed the door open. "Or should I say _who's_ gotten into you?"

For the second time this morning Alec shushed someone, pulled her inside the room and carefully closed the door.

"Hello Magnus" Isabelle said and crossed her arms.

"Good Morning, Isabelle." he replied and sat up again. "Do you mind to stop what you're doing? You know how Alec gets when you tease him about this."

"I don't care." she said and turned to her brother again. "You bring him here, let him spend the night, you're even too lazy to put your pants on the right way. It's like you _want_ to get caught! So why not just tell her?"

"Because I can't! And thanks for telling me about the pants, by the way" he said towards Magnus who now leaned his back against the head of the bed, shrugging his shoulders.

"I was trying to. You _shushed_ me."

Isabelle sighted. "You know what, just do what you want. But if I were you I'd tell mom and dad as soon as possible. Because you're getting careless and that means one of these days mom _is_ going to walk in on the two of you. And you don't want that. Believe me, it's _not _fun..."

Magnus raised an eyebrow but didn't address the topic Isabelle's previous adventures, which (apparently) have been witnessed by her mother, any further.

"I would have never been this careless if I thought they might be coming home early. And you were supposed to be out, too."

"I was. I was just teasing you. Thank the Angel, I wasn't here to hear anything... however... you're in trouble now. Magnus can't use a portal to get out, he'll have to use the door and someone might see him. Unless of course you're willing to climb out the window?"

Magnus (giving up on the idea of Alec coming back into bed) threw the blanket aside, which caused Isabelle to turn around rather quickly, got up and put his boxers on. "How about _you_ go out the window first and tell me how much fun that is?"

"Don't be such a wuss. You're a warlock, you can _make_ it fun."

"Yes, I _could_ take a carpet and use it to fly back to my apartment but that would cause an awful lot of attention."

Alec looked surprised. "You could?"

Magnus grinned. "Where do you think the inspiration for Aladdin came from?"

While Alec smiled Isabelle looked from one of them to another, before she threw her hands in the air. "Whatever. I'm going down to breakfast. Find your own way to get out of your mess."

"You do that", Alec said, opening the door for her. "I can protect my own secret boyfriends, thank you very much."

Suddenly Isabelle froze and stared towards the hallway and as Magnus followed her gaze he saw why – their mother had come back and stood there (with one fist up in the air, ready to knock) completely horrified.

As Alec turned around he also froze and couldn't say another word. Neither could his mother. Nor Isabelle.

"Indeed." It was Magnus who broke the silence. "You're _very_ good at it."

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If you read and liked it, please leave a Review. That would make the decision, how long it's going to be, so much easier ;)  
I don't know when I'll be able to update but I'll do my best to hurry.


	2. Chapter 2

Oh - wow. Seriously - wow. I don't know what to say. I never thought this Fic would find so many readers with the first chapter oO I'm speechless.

Lucky for you I don't have to speak to be able to write, so here's the second Chapter. It's different than the first Chapter but I hope you'll like it anyway.

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**Chapter 2**

Alexander Lightwood had thought a lot about how to tell his parents that he was gay. Whenever he did, he always had _doubts_ if the situation he made up in his mind would be the right way to tell them, or not. But he was _absolutely sure _that his mom finding a naked Warlock in his bedroom was _not_ the best way for her to find out.

After Magnus' (completely inappropriate) comment, no one had said a single word. In fact, Alec wasn't too sure if his mother hadn't had a heart attack until she finally took her hand down and cleared her throat.

"Alexander... what is this?"

Alec could not remember if he had said the thing about him having a secret boyfriend _before_ or _after_ he had opened the door. If he had said it afterward there might still be a way to get out of this, right? He could always pretend that he hadn't noticed Magnus was here. It might be a dumb way out, but it was a way...

"It's uhm... Magnus was... visiting." He could see that Isabelle was trying very hard not to smack her hand against her forehead right now – and he couldn't blame her.

"Visiting... in his underwear?"

Alec turned around, hoping Magnus would come up with something smarter to say, than he had. Something _a lot_ smarter. It wasn't hard to tell that Magnus was not just thinking about what words to chose – he was also thinking about what statement to make. Alec begged him to come up with a cover story with his eyes. And he succeeded.

"Now now, Alexander, don't be so modest. Maryse, your son was kind enough to offer me a place to stay. I was attacked at my apartment yesterday. Some nasty little demons, nothing dangerous but when a well known Warlock like me gets attacked word gets out pretty quick. Alec and Jace received the message and decided to skip their training in order to help me. By the time they arrived I had already taken care of the demons but they had left a _hideous_ smell in my apartment. It would have been impossible to stay there the entire night and survive. Alec has kindly offered for me to stay here and even left his bedroom for me, because he wasn't sure how you would feel if he would have put me in a room which is meant for foreign Shadowhunters."

"Y-yeah. Exactly." Alec was stunned by how fast Magnus had made up that story, which sounded incredibly believable as well. But as impressed as he was, there was also this little part in him that thought he ought to be concerned that his boyfriend was so good at lying. "I spend the night in another room. Unfortunately I forgot to take some clothes with me, that's why I came back this morning to get some. Clothes I mean."

He wasn't sure if his mother was buying any of this. She still looked at Magnus as if he were a ghost. After a while she said: "I see. Well, Alexander, that was very big of you."

Isabelle frowned in disbelief, that their mom had fallen for that. "It was?" Alec shot her a certain look and she corrected herself: "It _was_. Anyway, I'm going downstairs now."

"Yes, please. In fact Alec, grab some clothes and leave as well. I'd like to talk to Magnus for a moment." Her voice was very monotone and right now a robot had more body language than her.

A new rush of fear (Alec had had a few of them this morning) overcame Alec, but this one actually cord up his throat. He mumbled "Yeah, sure" and did as he was told. With shoes and a shirt in his hands he then stood outside his room a couple of moments later, together with Isabelle.

The second the door closed in front of them Isabelle said. "You are _so_ screwed."

"I know." Alec said and put his shirt on. "And _you _haven't exactly been helpful!"

"I'm sorry, okay? I was the heat of the moment. Besides, I feel bad for Magnus. How do you think it makes him feel that you're always hiding him? You're lucky he even puts up with it."

Alec sighted. "Well, for what it's worth, I don't think he has to much longer. Mom knows... why else would she have wanted to talk to him alone? I don't know what to do. I can't handle this... not right now. It's too soon."

Isabelle placed her hand on his arm to comfort him. "Are you ever going to be ready?"

When he didn't reply she continued. "Look, I know I tease you about it. A lot. But this is serious. The moment that door opens again you are going to want to know where you stand on this."

"Where he stands on what?"

Alec jerked as he heard Jace' voice. And then it hit him... Jace! If there was even the slightest chance that his mom still believed him, Jace would crush it the moment she'd ask him about it. And even if not, if his mother mentioned the cover story to Jace he'd figure out the rest on his own. He wasn't stupid. Alec took a deep breath before he said: "Jace, I need to talk to you."

Isabelle looked surprised. "Alec, what are you doing?"

"Deciding where I stand."

Jace looked around between the two of them with a confused look on his face before he said: "This wouldn't have anything to do with your secret relationship with Magnus, would it?"

Alecs mouth dropped open and after a while he managed to look sideways to his sister, who quickly held up her hands. "Don't look at me, I didn't tell him."

"No one told me. Honestly, it doesn't take a genius to figure this out."

"Which explains why _you_ were able to." Isabelle teased him.

Jace shot her an annoyed look but Alec lost it: "Stop talking _now_!"

"Alec... it's okay. I don't care who you're with as long as you're happy."

He swallowed at the thought that he'd also like to be with _Jace_. Or would he? For as long as he remembered he had been hung up over his Parabatai. Which was not only impossible because Jace wasn't gay, but also because Parabatai weren't allowed to be together. But ever since Magnus had shown up, things had... changed. Alec still thought about Jace being the one he really wanted, but to be honest, this felt more like a _habit_ and not like his feelings anymore.

Before he was able to pull himself out of his train of thoughts, not to mention think of something to say, his mother opened the door again and stepped out of his room. When she saw that Alec and Isabelle had become Alec, Isabelle and Jace, she jerked. "Jace! Where did you come from?"

Jace blinked. "Out...side?"

"Were you out all night again?"

"Yes." when he saw Maryse' upset look he quickly added: "_No_. No, I was in my bed, all night, sleeping like a baby."

Maryse looked at him for a moment before she nodded. Alec thought she might be close to a mental break down. "Very well then. Let's go have breakfast. Magnus will be joining us."

Alec looked at Magnus, who appeared behind his mother and seemed to have found his clothes in the meantime and had gotten dressed. "He will?"

"You offered him a place to stay and we will not decline him breakfast. Afterwards he can go back to his place. I'm certain the smell has worn off by now." Maryse then walked off.

"Well" Magnus said once she was gone and everyone was staring at him. "This should be fun."

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As you can see - this isn't the end ;) But it _will_ end after the next Chapter, I know that now. It'll be a Threeshot. So stay tuned & please leave a review in the meantime :)


	3. Chapter 3

Okay you guys, the last chapter is here!

I hope you like it and thank everyone who read and reviewed this story, it means a lot to me :)

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**Chapter 3**

"Hello Jace." Magnus said after a moment of silence and nodded towards him.

"Yeah... hi." Jace replied.

After Alec's mind seemed to have processed what just happened he asked: "What did my mother talk to you about? Why does she want you to stay for breakfast?"

Magnus shrugged his shoulders. "That's really two different questions."

He then, without answering either one of them, walked past him, in fact, past all three of them. To be honest, he had the desire to leave the Institute right now but he wasn't going to give Maryse that satisfaction. Not after what she'd said to him.

**xxx**

"Yes, please. In fact Alec, grab some clothes and leave as well. I'd like to talk to Magnus for a moment."

Magnus barely kept himself from exhaling every last bit of air he had left in his lounges. Maryse wasn't buying his story. After the door got closed and left Alec and Isabelle standing in the hall, this got even clearer.

But before it did there was a very long, uncomfortable silence hovering over them.

"You don't expect me to believe any of that, do you?"

"I would like you to." There was no point in lying but, as always, Magnus didn't admit defeat either. "But I suppose I can't _make_ you." For a moment he pretended to think hard about something. "If _only_ I had magic powers..." He was really just making a point here. He could make her believe whatever he chose to. It was a simple spell, very similar to the one he had used on Clary to make her forget everything she'd seen about this world. But he _chose_ not to – that was simply who Magnus was. And he hoped Maryse would appreciate that.

"Magnus" she said and walked over to him. "I have always thought high of you. But make no mistake, if there is anything going on between my son and you-"

"With all due respect, Maryse" Usually he didn't interrupt people but in this case he needed to make an exception. "I think it is _you_ who should make no mistake here... because if there _was_ something going on... I would never speak of it, knowing it would make him uncomfortable. Also, I would not end it if you didn't approve... if _that_ was where you were going with this."

Maryse swallowed and tried to keep her face steady. "Then I guess it's a good thing there is nothing going on." Ah. They were back to talking between the lines. "Because if there were I would have to make my son see just what kind of man you are. I honor you as Warlock, Magnus. But I despise you as a person. And I would make sure Alec would see it the same way."

He fixed her with his eyes, trying to figure out how to respond to this threat. It didn't take him long to go with: "And how would you engage in such a pointless activity?"

It took her a while to answer and when she did, she smiled at him. "Look at the time. You must be starving... you should stay for breakfast."

**xxx**

"Magnus, wait!"

Alec ran after him and grabbed him by his arm, which made the Warlock stop. He turned around and looked at him, but didn't say anything.

Magnus wasn't the one to keep something from his boyfriend, even when they weren't in that place when everyone knew they were together. _He_ knew. And he wanted to tell Alec but it wasn't exactly easy to tell someone something like that... especially when you were in love with that someone and didn't want to see him get hurt.

He used the time Isabelle and Jace took to walk past them to think about what to say. As far as Magnus was concerned, they were walking too fast, though. It didn't take them long to be gone and he had to answer.

"Let's just say that your mother didn't believe my cover story. Which is a shame, really, I was very proud of it."

With every single word Magnus could see Alec getting paler and paler, which did surprise him. In a way he hadn't thought that was even possible.

The moments past by without Alec saying a word. After a while Magnus was getting worried: "Alec?"

It was as if he snapped out of a day dream (or nightmare, in this case) but still stared at Magnus. "Sorry... I... how did she react?"

Maybe Magnus was imagining it but he was sure that aside from the fear he also saw hope in Alec's eyes. Not hope, that his mother had taken it well... but hope that Magnus had _taken the bulllet_ for him. Which, in a way, was what had happened, but he also knew that there were many other bullets left to come.

"It's save to say that she doesn't like me anymore." Magnus replied after thinking about his words for a while. "Also, she is going to attempt to make you agree with that."

"W-what?"

Magnus exhaled. "In her defense, she _did_ get the shock of her life... I think she needs some time to process what she saw and heard. I believe she might change her mind once she had some time to think about this."

Alec didn't say anything. He simply stared past Magnus.

"I'm sorry, Alexander."

At this Alec looked at him again. "For what?"

"For all of this. I never wanted for your family to find out about us before you were ready."

But then Alec surprised him. He frowned for a very long moment, obviously thinking, and then said: "Maybe... I am..."

"Alec, you don't have to pretend with me. It's okay."

"No I mean... I _am_. When you were talking to my mother and Jace walked into this whole situation I thought I was going to drop dead that very moment... but guess what: I'm still alive. Even after Jace said he already knew what was going on – of which I have no idea how he figured it out – I'm still standing. And that's not because I've gotten stronger on my own... it's because you made me stronger."

Magnus smiled at him. The words, he needed to describe how glad he was to finally hear Alec say all of this, had not yet been invented.

"I think you're giving me too much credit. I cannot create something that hasn't been there before."

"Maybe not. But you made me see it."

Alec then laid his hand Magnus' neck, using it to pull his head down to him and kissed him. A kiss Magnus didn't need much convincing to participate in. Until...

"Alexander Gideon Lightwood!"

They stopped kissing immediately but Magnus didn't pull away from Alec. He simply looked at Robert, not moving a muscle, which was the only thing keeping him from asking why he was disturbing them.

Alec stared at his father in shock but it seemed being close to Magnus helped him to get over that quickly. "Father..." he then slowly let go of Magnus, but still held his hand.

"Your mother told me what he had seen earlier. I was going to see if you were coming down to breakfast any time soon."

"Why?" Alec asked snippy. "So you and mother can convince me that Magnus isn't good enough for me?"

His father didn't reply.

"Tell me, though, is it because of who he is... or because he's not a girl?"

Magnus held himself back from saying _Although, there was a time..._, because this was simply not the time for jokes. It was a shame though. He thought it was really funny.

"Let me explain something to you" Alec said and Magnus could see his chest raising and falling very fast as he let his hand go and turned completely toward his father. "If one of us isn't good enough for the other one, it's _me_ for _him_... because I have kept him a secret this entire time. I wasn't strong enough to tell you how I feel but I am now. And nothing you can say will make me change my mind. Because... because I love him."

At this, Robert wasn't the only one staring at his son out of wide, unbelieving eyes.

"And as for breakfast... we'll go have _that_ somewhere else."

Before either of them could say or do anything Alec had already grabbed Magnus' hand again and was dragging him out of the Institute. For this entire time none of them say anything. Alec didn't because his entire body was trembling, he was now panicking, Magnus could see it – and that was because he didn't say anything. He wanted to give him a little time to deal with it on his own first.

Once they'd left the Institute Alec let go of Magnus' hand and used his own, terribly trembling ones to run through his hair. "By the Angel... did I really just say all of that?"

Magnus smiled. "I believe so."

Alec was breathing very fast and kept walking until Magnus put his hands on his shoulders, made him stop, and looked deep into his blue eyes. Oh, so so blue...

"You did a great thing in there. I am proud of you."

Still very nervous Alec brought upon a smile and nodded just a bit.

"And as for what you said... do never think for just a second that you're not good enough for me. I have lived for 700 years-"

"Didn't you say you were 800?"

"Did I? Weird. Anyway, where was I... ah, yes: I have lived for 500 years, and yet I have never met someone I could imagine spending the rest of my life with." Not that he could, because Alec was a mortal... but if he wasn't, Magnus would. "Because I love you, too."

All nervousness in Alec seemed to be blown away. He simply beamed at him and kissed him again. After a while he broke the kiss off and said: "I'm starving... we should really get some breakfast."

Magnus nodded. "Alright. Just one other thing that's been bothering me... back in there, you said secret boyfriend_s._ Plural?"

Alec laughed. "Yeah. Which reminds me, I have to meet another one in an hour."

Magnus grinned and put an arm around Alec and started walking away from the Institute. "I'm afraid you'll have to reschedule. We won't be done having... _breakfast_ in an hour."


End file.
